St. Landry democrat., 1887-09-24

radicalism, and to establish them II
! peace and prosperity.
A great many people say they do no
want third term for McEnery. 10 tel
! you the truth, don't want any tern
. for him.
A kind of inspiration seems sometime
TO TAKE POSSESSION
of the people. When i'll the first con
tinental congress the elder Adamt
/ placed his hand on the shoulder OF
! George Washington and said, This Il
the man for the emergency" l believe
it WAS an inspiration from Heaven that
moved him, and when the people OF TINS
state III 1876, without caucus, without
putting III operation the usual
machinery by which candidates are
nominated, concentrated upon FRANCIS
L. Nichols, | firmly believe 1T was an
inspiration from Heaven which direct
ed them. In the hour of the peOple's
need 1t would seem that there is a
power beyond themselves. or outside of
themselves, that moves them to make
the best choice, and, as IN the early
days of the history o. this country,
Washington was chosen, so in the day
of the peril If Louisiana the choice of
this people fell happily upon Governor
Nichols.
Why was he not kept in office? The
constitutional convention OF 1879 was as
much an elecUiOneering body as 1t was
a constitution making body. There was
constant intrigue and caucuslng going
on with the view 10 determining the
succession in the gubernat0rlal chair,
and yet not one word of TemOnStranCe,
or protest, or appeal came from the H.
cumbent governor, Nichols.
The people, like the lsraelites of old,
had commenced to murmur. They were
tired OF waiting; they expected too
much; they Thought that when Mich
oils was governor plenty would drop
INTO their laps; that
PROSPERITY WOULD SMILE
upon them, and that every avenue
would open to peace and happiness.
They made u great lnlstake-as great d
mistake as Governor MCEnery does in
believing that he can raise potatoes.
Prosperity don't belong to governor
ships; plenty don't depend upon the
incumbent of the executive Office :;
economy and industry produce good
times or bad times. All things being
equal, my friends, a good government
with good times Is better than a bad
government with good times; but q
good government in bad times can
make potatoes grow, and bad gov
eminent with good times can't keep
them from growing. SO the reaction
was too great tor our people. They
murmurcd some. They dl4u' ! come out
ard charge Governor Nichols in any
way, but they were not exactly happy;
they expected TOO much. Governor
Nichols bowed modestly and deferen-
TALLY to the will OF the people, aud lie
passed out of the office as he had gone
into it. pure and unSpotted and uucOm-
planning. Never d word did he say,
when one word from him would have
made him the next governor OF the
state.
Behold what has happened. The peo-
pie who had Inurmured against The
leader who brought them out OF pollti-
cal servltude into the land of freedom,
if not of plenty, continue TO murmur.
But this milk and honey business is
played out long ago, except with Nc
Enery. jim Houston, JastremskI and
perhaps Dr.. Robertson.
| would like TO see these new agricnl-
turlsts at work. | would like to see Nc
Emery planting beans, for instance, and
Jim Houston lrrlgatlng water works
stock, etc. l would like to see all these
and mechanics at work.
a gentleman suggests one thing which
be maintained as the governor of the
state. | believe that if his eXcellency,
aided by the powerful array of genius
| have mentioned, could get out a
patent for
DESTROYING THE WORMS
that prey on the cotton we would keep
aim IN office Tor twenty-five years; but
since he contents himself with theoret-
cal discussions on the subject of
beams and potatoes and other agricul-
,ural products, we can't stand him.
v hat We want is the great American
oug killer. daughter and applause
My friends. coming down now to
serious matters, don't you think the OPP
position has very slim case when they
ely on McEnery's being a levee gov
,rnor to entitle him to the votes of the
people of the stateg One governor
you'd be just as good levee governor
Is another, unless he was an idiot or
lnave, or both. The law directs how
he tax should be levied and collected.
rhe one mill tax is collected for leyee
purposes and turned over to the
Engineers, but has Governor McEnery
,iven any attention to the board of
| am told that some of these
evees are two feet under the contract
leight. The charge has been publicly
made. What kind of levee governor
$ that, that let's his engineers build
eveeS two feet beneath the height pro-
-ided for in the contract?
1t is said that in 1882 the levees in
'ointe Coupee had to be raised the
1organza levee broke; our country was
yerttOWed and ruined notwithstand- |
ng
OUR LEVEE GOVERNOR,
his enormous claims
o the gratitude of this people by rea-
on of his capacity for throwing up
irt. Why, you might as well vote for
irt machine at once. | suppose that if
ONE one should invent machine to
brow up dirt for 2 cents a cubic yard. /
his machine would make very good I
overnor. There is about as much .
enSe in this idea as Ill the claims that
Governor McEnery's friends set up for
i'm in regard to his services to the
evees.
You can see why the Republican
arty declined to renominate General
'rant. There are over LOG, 600 federal /
tlicials in this country and each
an control 10 votes at least, according
D Mr.. rllden's estimate. Hence the
arty that happens to be in power in
he federal government will have at
EAST 100000 votes ahead before they
egin the political contest, and the
arty out Of power will have to 'ante
p" the same number of votes before
pening the political game if they would
9 al on equal footing with their adver-
aries Every man that receives COM
Mission from the powers that be, every
ne that expects an appointment, every
ster, cousin or aunt of that individual,
ecomes supporter of the party in
over. Have you no evidence of this
act in your parish3 Have you no fell
wv here with a commission in his
ocket who was once a good Nichols
ian, but now he keeps his mouth shut
+ is McEnery MANI Little things of
MS kind have wonderful influence
yer mankind. But
IF THE WOMEN
ere in Office they wouldn't act like
nat. Adam began that sort of game
u Eve, and think a mistake was made
/ the creation when the woman was